Simple to understand, too hard to fix...

[Nitro Sycho]

Ok so here's the problem...my computer lags. Pretty common problem yea i know. My comp is not slow (P4 2.4ghz with 512mb ram). So getting more specific, my computer lags at random intervals, then becomes completely fine and fast. When it does lag every 10 mins or so, everything still runs, except it can take up to a minute just to view the start menu. I have tried:
>Antivirus scan: no viruses
>Spyware scans: No spyware found by Spybot or Adaware
>Disc cleanup and de-fragmentation: Did not work, computer still lagged
>Repaired the System files and boot files by using the original operating system cd (windows xp)

And yet...all that didnt work and my computer still lags every now and then (right now its running fine, i still have about 5 mins to go before lag). Please, help needed to fix this problem, I'm still trying to find the actual cause of this.

 

[winterfreshpwnz]

A reformat would solve this unless it's a hardware issue which I doubt.

 

[Nitro Sycho]

is there another way around this other than re-formatting?

 

[Kage]

Yeah there must be. To me it seems something to do with memory caching but i cant be sure. The fact it happens every 10 mins for a min or so suggests this.

I think this won't be a problem, but press control, alt, delete and bring up the processes menu. How many are running? Maybe every 10 mins one program is accessing, taking up alot of CPU time, and it might be set to a higher priority than normal windows tasks are. This can be checked by right clicking a proces and going to set priority. Most programs are set to normal, but some are set to high. Check that some that might be set to high, or above that are needed to be this high.

Another thing you could check is something caled virtual memory. This acts as virtual ram and uses some hard drive space, though it isn't as efficent as real RAM, it can give a bit of a boost when it comes to processes using up memory.

So go to Start, Control Panel, then find System.
Click on the Advanced tab and click on settings where it says Performance. Click on Advanced again on this new menu and check what the virtual memory is set to. Check that what is recommended at the bottom as an amount is selected, either by checking that it is set to 'System Managed Size' or by making sure the 'Custom' amount is set right.

If it is, upping it a little bit wont do any damage. Checking that it uses a bit of hard drive space form time to time, so make sure you have enough left, as you raise the amount.

Hope these help tackle the problem for you

 

[ASSEMBLER]

tuneup

kage will probably right goto www.tuneuputilities.com and downloead the trial version it is quite good its like norton utilities on steriods it also has a mem optimizer but more importantly it can show you everything that is running in the background and you can shut them down if you wish it will also tell you if you are allowed to shut them down.also try a program called tweak xp this can speed things up slightly with the cpu and memory.not sure where to get this from but if you have a problem finding it let me know ill e-mail it to you.if all else fails try the firs answer format and reload

 

[Computergen1]

reformatting is the best way to make sure u can get rid of it but if not then follow these lovely peoples advice